[Taqwus]

With Black Forest Ulm, it would make sense to take a strong dominion and crank out vampires quickly. Vampires -- regular, Count, Lord and Queen -- are all immortal, flying, ethereal undead. The immortality + flying is a nice duo for early expansion because when your vampire count/queen/etc dies in your dominion, he'll reappear at home and be able to fly back to the front rather quickly -- and being immortal will heal afflictions over time even without Gift of Health or other magical assistance. Plus, immortals in their own dominion don't rout, which helps them keep fighting against suicidal odds...
With death gems + immortal death-2/blood-2 commanders, Lammashastas should be readily exploited. Can't recall how much research that takes 'tho. Yes, the lammashastas will quite probably kill your vampire count... but in your dominion, it won't matter; and if the lammashastas rout/kill the enemy as well, you get the province.